Ralph Lauren Opening First Namesake Store in Canada. Wha?

Canadians hate it when you say their country is just like its neighbor to the south…only a little colder and with gravy and cheese on their French fries.

But still, the consuming habits of Canadians aren’t all that different than their U.S. counterparts, even if big retailing companies like Target and Nordstrom have fallen on their hockey sticks trying to do business in the country and crawled back to safety south of the border.

So the news that Ralph Lauren has opened its first full-line namesake Canadian store, in Toronto, has to be somewhat of a head-shaker to those who figured the iconic U.S. brand had been operating there for years. And it has in fact been in Canada for some time, as a wholesaler selling into third-party retailers like Hudson’s Bay as well as operating a dozen of its ubiquitous outlet stores which continue to be rumored as the most successful part of the Polo-sphere.

The Ralph people say Toronto is one of its Top 30 hit-list of locations to expand into and that it expects to open additional stores in Canada in “the coming years.”

Still, one has to wonder what took them so long? Granted, the company’s retail strategy has always been something of an enigma. It seems to open and close stores – the New York City Fifth Avenue location next to the Polo Bar and the entire Rugby brand – on a regular basis.

In the meantime, the brand seems to be severely underrepresented with its own stores in Asia, specifically in Japan and China where one would think both old and new money would be frantically lusting after Purple Labels until their fingers turned colors. The company’s web site lists just one store in Japan and none in China, although press reports show at least three of its own branded stores in China (and perhaps many more, it’s unclear) as well as its products available in hundreds of other third-party retail outlets.

And of course, Ralph Lauren has moved aggressively on the digital front throughout the world with e-commerce business in Asia and Europe as well as North America.

Still, even though it has relatively few full-line stores compared to other brands, one has to think it needs to continue its more recent strategy of taking back control of its retail distribution from third parties. That has certainly been its plan in the U.S. where it was depending far too much on a deteriorating Macy’s for its revenue. Opening in Toronto and elsewhere in Canada has to be considered a smart move, even if it remains late to the retail scene.

Perhaps it needs to get its Polo pony to move a little faster…